<p>hello! i am a girl from a public north carolina school with "competitive" SATs (2220 800R 740M 680W, retaking next month to fix writing score) and an okay-but-not-fantastic gpa (3.66UW 4.6W). i am interested in math, sciences (non-biological) and maybe something sort of cross-disciplinary like linguistics or economics. i have taken 4 ap exams so far (5 art history, 5 bc calculus, 5 physics b, 4 ap latin lit) and will take 3 more in the spring (chemistry, statistics, us history). i am the president of my school quiz bowl team and have won awards in latin for the past six years. i volunteer at a very subversive bookstore/infoshop and also work about 15 hours a week. i am a national merit semifinalist. sometimes i wear clogs.</p>
<p>at this point in my college search i believe reed is my top choice institution but looking at the financial aid averages has been a little discouraging. any suggestions?</p>
<p>my not silly/silly criteria, respectively: EXCEPTIONAL academic atmosphere, nearby culture (coffee, music, food, weird)
where i am also applying: brown, tufts, wellesley, unc, nc state</p>
<p>p.s. love of science required!! absolutely!!</p>
<p>Let me elaborate - New College is in Sarasota, FL, an artsy town, and the students bike the 1-2 miles in Sarasota regularly for the nearby culture. There is a student-run cafe on campus, the Four Winds, with coffee, music and food. The students are weird but brilliant. I would imagine that some wear clogs! 9 Fulbright scholars in 2009, which is incredible given the school size (700-800 students). They give good aid, which you would likely qualify for. Check it out. I am hoping my daughter stops talking about Reed, and focuses more on New College. She hates the heat, but it isn’t hot the whole year, and it rains in Portland a lot.</p>
<p>well, maybe i should widen the net a little bit and say that my parents ‘combined’ income is around 180 grand but they are divorced and we all live in a town with large mortgages and a high cost of living. on paper i am afraid i will look more financially sustainable than i actually am, but i can still swing about 20 thousand a year. reed is especially troublesome to me because of the recent press about them having to re-evaluate their aid practices. </p>
<p>i am also applying to uchicago, i forgot to mention. thank you for the responses so far. new college of florida is intriguing. oberlin seems a little overdone in its quirkiness (to the point of self-mockery) but maybe i am too influenced by what others say. i have never visited.</p>
<p>not very reputable in science. i am looking for something more intense. beautiful place, though, i was there not three days ago! funny you mention it.</p>
<p>i realize now it was probably a misleading title, you might have also been reminded of a marsh. obviously i have to look at oberlin. i skipped over grinnell probably prematurely because it is in iowa and i am biased, but i will look at it also. </p>
<p>harvey mudd! i didn’t think i had the numbers for that place. i love science but i’d like a solid ‘great books’ type education as well, how balanced is harvey mudd in that respect? could i just walk on over to pomona for humanities, or is that not how it works?</p>
<p>Grinnell should definitely be on your list. They do have decent merit aid. We toured a year ago, and the kids were fantastic. It is in a boring location but we loved the campus. An hour away from the Des Moines airport is not too bad. I am sorry you are affected by the divorce; my D has that as an issue also as well as a seemingly high income in a high cost of living area. Keep in mind if you apply to FAFSA only schools (New College is one; I know Grinnell and Oberlin also require the CSS Profile) you only have to disclose the income and assets of the parent (and possible step-parent) that you reside with.</p>
<p>“reed is especially troublesome to me because of the recent press about them having to re-evaluate their aid practices.”</p>
<p>Just curious, what is it that troubles you? Reed still (just as it did before) guarantees 100% of need for four years for all admitted students, they increased their financial aid budget by 7.8 percent for 2009-10 compared to 2008-09, and offered aid to 14 percent more applicants for the 2009 incoming class compared to 2008. The average grant to incoming freshmen who received aid this year was $33,181; is that too low?</p>
<p>In addition to Oberlin and Grinnell, Carelton should be on your list as well.</p>
<p>Yes, the article is well-known, but what aspect troubles you in terms of applying? The number of needy students admitted dropped, but the aid policy remained the same.</p>
<p>"Hannah C. Moser, 17, needed financial help…thrilled with the small classes and quirky students, she applied to Reed last fall and was ecstatic when she learned she was admitted — through an informal announcement that came in haikus by e-mail.</p>
<p>But she said she qualified for only $14,000 in aid, far less than any other college offered."</p>
<p>It seems like their internal calculations for ‘demonstrated need’ have changed, but one anecdote may not be enough.</p>
<p>No, it only seems that way; nothing about aid policy changed, and the article says “that she had not sent in a required form.” The misleading tone of the article was what prompted this correction by Reed:</p>